U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency resigned as chairman of the Rule of Law Defense Fund in November, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing a financial ...

Thousands of pages of emails made available today show that the new EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, coordinated with major oil and gas producers and political groups tied to the Koch brothers to roll back environmental regulations during his tenure as Oklahoma attorney general.mobile.nytimes.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, First 100 Days, Energy)

The Oklahoma Attorney General’s office confirms that Scott Pruitt used a private email account for state business when he was Oklahoma Attorney General, which is in direct conflict with Pruitt’s written and oral testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works committee during his confirmation process as E.P.A. administrator.okcfox.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency)

Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, is being pressed to explain omissions in congressional testimony at his confirmation hearing regarding his use of a personal email account for official business as Oklahoma state attorney general.washingtonpost.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Assaults on Facts)

Rep. Ken Calvert, a Republican from California, raised strong concerns about Trump’s budget proposal in his opening remarks to a two-hour EPA budget hearing, held by an appropriations subcommittee focused on the environment and chaired by Calvert.

This is, of course, at odds with at odds with the EPA, NASA, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

2017.06.28

The Trump administration’s top environmental official met privately with the chief executive of Dow Chemical shortly before removing a ban on a widely used pesticide, despite health studies showing it can harm children’s brains.apnews.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency)

Scott Pruitt has made it clear that he intends to dismantle the E.P.A.’s environmental mission, but his critics say he is deploying extraordinary secrecy as he does so.nytimes.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency)

He has made it clear that he intends to dismantle the E.P.A.’s environmental mission. His critics say he is deploying extraordinary secrecy as he does so.

Since taking office in February, Scott Pruitt, head of the E.P.A., has held back-to-back meetings, briefing sessions and speaking engagements almost daily with top corporate executives and lobbyists from all the major economic sectors that he regulates — and almost no meetings with environmental groups or consumer or public health advocates.nytimes.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Assaults on Government)

2017.10.05

Donald Trump nominated Andrew R. Wheeler, a coal lobbyist with links to outspoken deniers of established science on climate change, to help lead the Environmental Protection Agency, who is reviled by environmental activists but hailed by industry as having the know-how to dismantle Obama-era fossil fuel regulations.nytimes.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Environment, Climate Change)

2017.10.05

The Environmental Protection Agency will propose repealing the Clean Power Plan - the Obama administration’s centerpiece regulation to fight climate change, designed to lower carbon emissions from existing US power plants by 2030 to 32% below 2005 levels.reuters.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Change)

The White House announced that Donald Trump picked Kathleen Hartnett White, a skeptic of climate change science, to serve as a member, and eventually chairwoman, of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).thehill.com(See also Climate Change, Environment)

The Environmental Protection Agency has removed dozens of online resources dedicated to helping local governments address climate change, as a new analysis found that an E.P.A. website has been scrubbed of scores of links to materials to help local officials prepare for a world of rising temperatures and more severe storms.nytimes.com(See also Censorship, Environmental Protection Agency)

The Environmental Protection Agency is beefing up security measures surrounding Administrator Scott Pruitt to an unprecedented level, as members of Congress are asking if the costs are a "potential waste or abuse of taxpayer dollars," by by hiring a dozen more agents for ateam that works in shifts to provide him around-the-clock protection, something unheard of for Pruitt's predecessors.cnn.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency)

2017.10.31

Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, stripped a half-dozen scientists and academics of advisory positions Tuesday and issued new rules barring anyone who receives E.P.A. grant money from serving on panels that counsel the agency on scientific decisions, effectively shutting out many academic scientists who rely on federal funding, replacing them with researchers from industry.nytimes.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Censorship)

2017.10.31

Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, stripped a half-dozen scientists and academics of advisory positions Tuesday and issued new rules barring anyone who receives E.P.A. grant money from serving on panels that counsel the agency on scientific decisions.nytimes.com(See also Assaults on Facts, Environmental Protection Agency)

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said a newly released government report that lays most of the blame for the rise of global temperatures to human activity won't deter him from continuing to roll back the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, a major rule aimed at combating climate change.usatoday.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Environment, Climate Change)

If the Environmental Protection Agency does not implement restrictions on pesticides (including chlorpyrifos, which hampers the development of children's brains) advocated in a recent National Marine Fisheries Services report, environmental activists and commercial fisheries hoping to preserve Pacific Northwest stocks of “salmon, sturgeon, orca and other endangered species” may file lawsuits.gizmodo.com(See also Environment, Environmental Protection Agency, Reversals)

This was a reversal of a Barack Obama-era initiative to ban chlorpyrifos, but changed after a meeting between Scott Pruitt and Andrew Liveris, the then-head of its manufacturer, Dow Chemical.

2018.01.29

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt was personally involved in the purging of information from the agency’s website in the early months of the Trump administration, according to documents obtained by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), as pages on the EPA’s website about climate change started disappearing or getting redirected to sites touting the president’s fossil fuel agenda.thinkprogress.org(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Environment, Censorship)

In May, the head of Pruitt’s security detail recommended he travel either business or first class whenever possible to avoid public confrontations with critics.

2018.02.26

A federal environmental program that distributes grants to test the effects of chemical exposure on adults and children is being shuttered amidst a major organization consolidation at the Environmental Protection Agency.thehill.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency)

The program is perhaps best known for its handling of fellowships that study the effects of chemicals on children's health.

The White House budget office said on Wednesday it was probing whether a $43,000 soundproof phone booth installed for Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt violated the law, while dozens of Democratic senators called for him to resign over allegations of ethics lapses.reuters.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption, Mick Mulvaney)

2018.03.21

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt spent more than $120,000 in public funds last summer for a trip to Italy that included a meeting of G-7 ministers and a private tour of the Vatican and use of a military jet.apnews.com(See also Corruption, Environmental Protection Agency)

Pruitt attended only the first few hours of the summit before flying back to Washington.

2018.03.26

A proposed policy would bar the E.P.A. from considering research that doesn't release its raw data for review, a move that would severely restrict the research available to it when writing environmental regulations, barring them from using some of the most consequential research of recent decades, such as studies linking air pollution to premature deaths or work that measures human exposure to pesticides.nytimes.com(See also Assaults on Facts, Assaults on Government, Environmental Protection Agency, Environment)

These fields of research are often private because they require personal health information for thousands of individuals, who typically agree to participate only if the details of their lives are kept confidential.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt’s lease at a Washington apartment owned by a lobbyist friend allowed him to pay $50 a night for a single bedroom, but only on the nights when he actually slept there.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's 24-hour security in Washington extends to at least some of his personal trips, including trips home, a trip to the Rose Bowl and a trip to Disneyland.cnn.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption)

The EPA chief used an obscure provision last month to increase the salaries of a pair of staffers by tens of thousands of dollars, despite the White House declining to approve the raises.

2018.04.05

At least five officials at the Environmental Protection Agency, four of them high-ranking, were reassigned or demoted, or requested new jobs in the past year after they raised concerns about the spending and management of the agency’s administrator, Scott Pruitt.nytimes.com(See also Corruption, Environmental Protection Agency)

The concerns included unusually large spending on office furniture and first-class travel, as well as certain demands by Mr. Pruitt for security coverage, such as requests for a bulletproof vehicle and an expanded 20-person protective detail, according to people who worked for or with the E.P.A. and have direct knowledge of the situation.

2018.04.06

Scott Pruitt was only supposed to be living in the Capitol Hill condominium that has become a focal point of his latest ethics controversy for six weeks last year, but the new Environmental Protection Agency administrator didn’t leave when his lease ended, so his landlords had to push him out and change the locks.politico.com(See also Corruption, Environmental Protection Agency)

When Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency head, decided to refashion the agency’s souvenir medallion, he proposed deleting the E.P.A. logo and adding symbols more reflective of himself.nytimes.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency)

When Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency head, decided to refashion the agency’s souvenir medallion, he proposed deleting the E.P.A. logo and adding symbols more reflective of himself.

2018.04.12

A former Secret Service agent, with a background investigating the Gambino crime family, Pasquale Perrotta, is serving as the chief of security for Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has clashed — at least once physically — with top E.P.A. officials who challenged Mr. Pruitt’s spending, and has steered at least one E.P.A. security contract to a business associate.nytimes.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption, Conflicts of Interest)

Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, insisted on staying in luxury hotels that were costlier than allowed by government standards, while also pushing to fly on an airline not on the government’s approved list so he could accrue more frequent flier miles, one of his top former deputies at agency has told congressional investigators.nytimes.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption)

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt upgraded his official car last year to a costlier, larger vehicle with bullet-resistant covers over bucket seats, because it was similar to ones in which some other Cabinet officials rode.washingtonpost.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption)

2018.04.19

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, under fire from lawmakers for travel and security expenses, spent about $45,000 in government money to fly five people to Australia to prepare for a planned trip that was later canceled.reuters.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption)

2018.04.22

Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt met in his office last year with a veteran Washington lobbyist tied to the bargain-priced condo where Pruitt was living, despite Pruitt and lobbyist Steven Hart previously denying Hart had conducted any recent business with EPA.theguardian.com(See also Reversals, Environmental Protection Agency, False Statements)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has granted a financial hardship waiver to an oil refinery owned by billionaire Carl Icahn, a former adviser to Donald Trump, exempting the Oklahoma facility from requirements under a federal biofuels law, according to two industry sources briefed on the matter, so they can avoid tens of millions of dollars in costs.reuters.com(See also Corruption, Conflicts of Interest, Environmental Protection Agency)

As a state senator in Oklahoma 15 years ago, Mr. Pruitt bought a home in the state capital with a registered lobbyist who was pushing for changes to the state’s workers’ compensation rules — changes that Mr. Pruitt championed in the legislature, while Mr. Pruitt never publicly disclosed his financial relationship with the lobbyist, who, like Mr. Pruitt, lived in the home when in Oklahoma City on business.nytimes.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption, Conflicts of Interest)

2018.05.04

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt paid himself nearly $65,000 in reimbursements from his two campaigns for Oklahoma attorney general, a move at least one election watchdog has sharply criticized as being recorded so vaguely that there was no way to tell if such payments were lawfulcnn.com(See also Corruption, Environmental Protection Agency)

A CNN analysis has found that embattled Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt paid himself nearly $65,000 in reimbursements from his two campaigns for Oklahoma attorney general, a move at least one election watchdog has sharply criticized as being recorded so vaguely that there was no way to tell if such payments were lawful.

Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, dined last year in Rome with Cardinal George Pell, a prominent climate-science denialist and Vatican leader who was also facing sexual abuse allegations, despite the fact that the EPA later released official descriptions of the dinner that intentionally did not mention the cardinal’s presence.nytimes.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, False Statements)

2018.05.14

Scott Pruitt began receiving round-the-clock security from the moment he stepped foot inside the Environmental Protection Agency in February 2017, at the behest of a Trump administration political appointee, contrary to what he has claimed publicly about his needs for extra security.washingtonpost.com(See also False Statements, Environmental Protection Agency)

2018.05.14

Scott Pruitt’s EPA and the White House sought to block publication of a federal health study on a nationwide water-contamination crisis, after one Trump administration aide warned it would cause a "public relations nightmare."politico.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Environment)

This is now the 12th federal inquiry into Mr. Pruitt’s management practices at the agency, including first-class travel expenses, the installation of a $43,000 soundproof phone booth and his rental of a $50-a-night condo from the wife of a lobbyist with business before the agency.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt loves eating at the White House mess, but the White House has asked him to please eat elsewhere, as he has visited it too many times.politico.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency)

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt asked members of his 24/7 security detail to run errands for him on occasion, including picking up his dry cleaning and taking him in search of a favorite moisturizing lotion.washingtonpost.com(See also Corruption, Environmental Protection Agency)

2018.06.07

The E.P.A. has in most cases decided to exclude from its calculations any potential exposure caused by the substances’ presence in the air, the ground or water, according to more than 1,500 pages of documents released last week by the agency, instead focusing on possible harm caused by direct contact with a chemical in the workplace or elsewhere.nytimes.com(See also Reversals, Environmental Protection Agency, Environment)

The approach means that the improper disposal of chemicals — leading to the contamination of drinking water, for instance — will often not be a factor in deciding whether to restrict or ban them.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt bought tickets for himself and his family to watch the Oklahoma Sooners play in the Rose Bowl with help from a marketing executive whose firm represents energy companies, including one client with business before the EPA.abcnews.go.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption)

There are at least 14 as of today, none of which, mind you, have anything to do with his policies which are gutting the environment.

2018.06.15

Senior staff members at the Environmental Protection Agency frequently felt pressured by Scott Pruitt, the administrator, to help in personal matters and obtain special favors for his family, according to interviews with four current and former E.P.A. officials who served as top political aides to Mr. Pruitt.nytimes.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption, Conflicts of Interest)

2018.06.20

Scott Pruitt has now spent more than $4.6 million from public coffers on security, a $1.1 million increase from Pruitt’s total security costs as released in another disclosure just a month ago including $2,749.62 on “tactical pants” and “tactical polos.”theintercept.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption)

An examination of Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt’s government email accounts has uncovered only one message he wrote to anyone outside EPA during his first 10 months in office — a number that has watchdogs questioning whether he is communicating in private.politico.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency)

2018.06.24

Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, discussed hiring a friend of a lobbyist family that owned a condominium he was renting for $50 a night, newly released emails suggest, and that the lobbyist’s client interests that had not previously been disclosed, suggesting a closer relationship between the lobbyist, J. Steven Hart, and the agency than previously known.nytimes.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption, Conflicts of Interest)

2018.07.02

Samantha Dravis, the former policy chief at the Environmental Protection Agency, told a congressional committee that Scott Pruitt, the administrator, asked her to help find his wife a job as a fund-raiser at the Republican Attorneys General Association, and used staff for other personal errands.nytimes.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption, Nepotism)

2018.07.03

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and his aides have kept "secret" calendars and schedules to overtly hide controversial meetings or calls with industry representatives and others, as EPA staffers met routinely in Pruitt's office to "scrub," alter or remove from Pruitt's official calendar numerous records because they might "look bad," according to Kevin Chmielewski, Pruitt's former deputy chief of staff.cnn.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption, False Statements)

A federal appeals court ruled that the Trump administration endangered public health by keeping a widely used pesticide on the market despite extensive scientific evidence that even tiny levels of exposure can harm babies’ brains, ordering the the Environmental Protection Agency to remove chlorpyrifos from sale in the United States within 60 days.apnews.com(See also Legal Activity, Reversals, Environmental Protection Agency)

2018.10.03

When former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt launched an effort to limit what kinds of scientific studies could be used to protect public health, he left out some key experts, including the Environmental Protection Agency’s own Office of the Science Advisor.washingtonpost.com(See also Environmental Protection Agency, Assaults on Facts)

Tom Sinks, director of the office, said in an April 24 email that “Even though OSA and I have not participated in the development of this document and I just this moment obtained it (have yet to read it), I am listed as the point of contact.”